Ex-PSU professor gets nearly 3 1/2 years for fraud

A former Penn State University professor has been sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison for more than $3 million in research grant fraud.

Prosecutors said 55-year-old Craig Grimes of Raleigh, N.C., defrauded the National Institutes of Health between 2006 and 2011 while a PSU professor of material sciences and engineering.

Authorities say his State College company got a $1.2 million grant, but funds weren't sent to Hershey Medical Center as promised and clinical studies weren't done. Authorities say Grimes also made false statements for a $1.9 million solar energy grant.

Grimes told the judge who sentenced him Friday to 41 months that he was zealous in wanting to help the world.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Terz said Grimes "is not a mad scientist. He's a dishonest scientist."